Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Dick Morris: The Widening Turnout Gap

From Dick Morris on the enthusiasm gap. Kirk and to an extent Brady running negative ads of their own, explain a bit of the predicament their campagins are in: in a year when the GOP wants a big turn out, these two in Illinois worked against it with negative ads of their own.

The Democrats are widening the enthusiasm gap against them by running exclusively negative campaigns against their insurgent Republican rivals. The vast proportion of Democratic and allied independent-expenditure media is negative, portraying Republican congressional candidates as tax evaders, spousal abusers, mob-linked, eccentric flakes, sexual molesters and absentee officeholders (all actual charges against key GOP candidates). While these ads may chip away at the Republican vote share in the polls, they do nothing to generate a Democratic turnout.

The Democrats are without a theme, a message or a positive reason to go vote. Negative ads are supposed to depress turnout - the last thing Democrats need. But when they come up against Republican enthusiasm, they may not do much to check the GOP rise.